As Aaron Judge inches closer to the American League’s single-season home run record, former Giants star Barry Bonds hopes the Yankees outfielder surpasses the mark and join his former team next season.
Judge crushed his 60th home run of the season on Tuesday, tying Babe Ruth for the second-most homers by a Yankee in a single season. The four-time All-Star still trails Roger Maris, who holds the franchise’s single-season record with 61 home runs.
Bonds, on the other hand, holds the MLB record for the most home runs (73) in a single season which he set back in 2001. Not only did Bonds recently encourage Judge to go forth in pursuit of his record, the 14-time All-Star would love to see Judge in a Giants’ uniform next season.
“I hope he [Judge] signs here,” Bonds told Sportico’s Barry Bloom. “Can it happen? I don’t know. It depends on what the Yankee payroll is. But we would love to have him, I’ll tell you that.”
After Judge completes a historic season, he will become a free agent. During the spring ahead of the 2022 MLB season, the Yankees offered Judge a seven-year, $213.5 million extension. However, he turned it down.
In doing so, Judge has put together a season for the ages as well as left the door open for different possibilities concerning his future. If the decision were left to Bonds, Judge would be crushing home runs in the Bay Area.
Judge, who was an avid Bonds and Giants fans growing up, grew up around the Stockton, California area, which is roughly 90 minutes east of San Francisco. Bonds grew up in the Bay Area and not far from the old Candlestick Park that was located in San Francisco’s Bayview Heights area.
Bonds hopes that the “Bay Area’ connection could be a partial link to lure Judge to the west coast.
“We in the Bay Area—he’s a Bay Area boy—we hope they don’t sign him, and we can get him,” Bonds said. “I would. He’s that good.”
Judge will seek to earn his 61st home run of the season on Friday when the Yankees head into the second matchup of the four-game series against the Red Sox.
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